


the end of the world

by rochke11



Series: We've Lived A Thousand Lives (one-shot series) [4]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-21
Updated: 2015-08-21
Packaged: 2018-04-16 12:20:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4625157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rochke11/pseuds/rochke11
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They were seventeen and believed they’d live forever. They were seventeen and would sneak out their windows at night. They were seventeen and believed that nothing could ever come between them. They were seventeen and it was the end of the world. The year was 2052 and the world as they knew it was coming to an abrupt end.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the end of the world

**Author's Note:**

> So I've decided to post all my one-shots as part of a series so that they could be standalone fics, and not part of the original collection where I posted them

They were seventeen and believed they’d live forever. They were seventeen and would sneak out their windows at night. They were seventeen and believed that nothing could ever come between them. They were seventeen and it was the end of the world. The year was 2052 and the world as they knew it was coming to an abrupt end.

Clarke logically knew that the world as she knew it was over, but she refused to admit that anything would change. Living on the army base just outside of Washington D.C. Clarke had a more stable life than the average American. They still had a school in operation on the base, one of the last government operated schools open in the country. They still had access to phones and the internet. They were still alive. California was underwater and Texas has been nuked in to oblivion, but somehow the army base outside of Washington D.C. had yet to be hit. With the world on the brink of collapse it was only a matter of time before the defenses around the Capital were broken and they were nuked into non-existence, but in that moment Clarke was still a teenager.

“Did you hear from Dad today?” she asked her mom as they ate their government provided rations in their largely empty home.

Abby shook her head as she finished chewing, “Not today.” Jake Griffin was a space engineer with NASA, and in the past few weeks he’d been forced to stay at the NASA base several hours away from them. With communication spotty at best, it had been days since they’d last heard from Jake. At that point he’d mentioned something about one last launch in to space, and that he was likely to be on it, but they hadn’t heard anything new.

“Do you think he already launched?” Clarke asked.

 

“No,” Abby shook her head. “We would have heard if he had. It would have been on the radio at the very least as we would have been able to see the launch from here.”

 

“Good,” Clarke nodded.

 

They ate the rest of their meal in silence before Abby headed up to bed. She was one of the few doctors on base and was nearly always on call. As a result, she slept whenever she could. “Please get to bed at a decent hour tonight,” Abby sighed, “I know you’ve been sneaking out to see Lexa and you need to stop doing that. It’s not safe to leave base.”

 

“I haven’t been sneaking out,” Clarke denied.

 

“Don’t lie to me Clarke.”

 

“Why can’t she come live with us?” Clarke pleaded. “You keep saying that it’s not safe out there for me, so how can it possibly be safe for my girlfriend? Her family is all dead. It’s not fair that we get to live safely behind walls in a house that is way too big for our family, while my girlfriend has trouble finding where her next meal is coming from on some days.”

 

“I know it doesn’t sound fair,” Abby touched her daughter’s shoulder, “But there are laws that can’t be broken here. It’s only families of high level NASA and government personnel allowed inside the walls.”

 

“Lexa is my family,” Clarke pushed her mom’s hand off her shoulder as she abruptly stood up and walked away from her. Abby shook her head at her daughter’s tantrum and went up to bed.

 

Clarke waited until her mother had been asleep for over an hour before she pulled on her sneakers and a hoodie, ready to sneak out. She wrapped the half of her rations from the day that she’d saved for Lexa, placed it in her backpack and snuck out the kitchen door. It was only just after nine at night, but already the streets of the base were empty. If Clarke had been paying more attention to the world around her, then she would have realized that President Wallace hadn’t been seen in public in over a month, and that slowly different families had been moving out of the base to an undisclosed location. That very morning, Maya Vie and her family had left for that same undisclosed location, but Clarke was too focused on her own life to worry about anyone else.

 

By the time she reached the fence at the east end of the base, Clarke was itching to see her girlfriend. She quickly moved the shrubbery that discreetly covered a hole in the fence and shimmied through it. She quickly bolted across the expansive field where the military monitored all movement toward the city. She ran through the city until she made it to the dilapidated area where her girlfriend had been moved to after her parents died in the second epidemic of Foreign Virus two years earlier.

 

“Clarke!” exclaimed the brunette as she pushed her way through the slab of sheet metal that was serving as a door to the hovel she shared with other teenagers who had been orphaned in the never-ending war. She wrapped her arms tightly around Clarke, holding her as if she hadn’t seen her in weeks instead of days.  
Clarke returned the sentiment by pressing her lips firmly against Lexa’s, tangling her hands in the girl’s tangled brown curls. “Hello to you too,” she grinned as she finally pulled away and rested their foreheads together.

 

“I love you,” Lexa smirked back.

 

“What’s not to love?” Clarke teased before pecking Lexa’s nose, “I love you too.”

 

“We should get off the street,” the brunette announced as she pulled Clarke in to the hovel she called home. Lately, the biggest threats they were facing weren’t from other countries threatening more warfare, but rather criminals who roamed the streets at night, owning the streets without the threat of police. The police force had been disbanded for months and the military had given up on the slums.

 

Once in Lexa’s home, Clarke withdrew from her backpack the rations she’d been saving for the past few days. When Clarke had first started bringing Lexa her extra rations, Lexa had refused them, not wanting to be a charity case. But when things had gotten worse, she knew that survival was more important than her pride, and she knew that Clarke just wanted to make things more fair.

 

Lexa ate several bites out of a can of tuna before hiding the bag of food under a loose floorboard.

 

“So where are we going tonight?” Clarke asked. Despite the world that seemed to be dying around them, they refused to stop living.

 

“Jasper and Monty are throwing a party down in the tunnels,” Lexa explained as she took the blonde’s hand in her’s. “I was thinking we could hit that up. Unless you want to hang here at Versailles,” she gestured to the room around her, the room with holes in the walls and puddles on the floor.

 

“Let’s go get drunk,” Clarke smiled, squeezing the girl’s hand as she pulled her up on her feet.

 

Lexa led Clarke through the dangerous seats of Washington D.C., knowing exactly how best to get to the underground rave. She was silent and agile from years of living on the streets. She could easily defend herself and Clarke if need be, but she preferred not to have to worry about scuffles in the first place.

 

When they arrived at the tunnels after climb down an old sewage drain, the party was already in full swing. Monty and Jasper and starting raves a few months back once they figured out a way to divert unused power to underground locations. The tunnels were dimly lit, but music was blasting. Clarke found herself starting to dance to the music before she even made it to the dance floor.

 

Looking around her, Clarke took in the crowd. They were all teenagers more or less, she could have sworn she saw a few kids that could barely more than eleven. And nearly everyone was drunk. Clarke knew they were likely all orphans. The world was full of orphans now. The Three killed off many adults as well as the very young and the very old. Teenagers and young adults were naturally stronger and more of them survived The Three.

 

The viruses all hit the United States within a month of each other, decimating the population. They were all manufactured by terrorists and combined had been referred to as The Three. The first had been a waterborne illness, infected many water sources and making nearly all sink water poisonous and the last had infected the very air that was breathed. It was because of the second that Clarke met Lexa. The met at a quarantine center.

 

Both Clarke and Lexa were some of the first to come down with Tech Flu and had immediately attached on to each other in the quarantine center. People were dying all around them them, and when it was finally discovered that the surgically implanted tech devices in their arms had been hacked by terrorists, arm amputations became rampant. The two girls had managed to just barely avoid amputations, instead Abby had found a way to reverse the electric flow in their bloodstreams and remove the devices without amputations. They both had gross looking scars on the inside of their forearms, but it was worth it.

 

Looking around, Clarke noticed that almost every single teen in the room either had a matching scar, or an amputated arm. The Tech Virus was the one of The Three that effected teens the most.

 

Lexa led Clarke to the booze buckets and made a cup each for herself and Clarke. They both downed the glass before grabbing another to walk around with. Clarke noticed Jasper in the DJ booth and Monty off to the side with Miller, but didn’t see any of their other friends. She briefly hoped they were okay, before deciding to live in the moment. She grabbed Lexa and pulled her close until they were dancing chest to chest.

 

Soon the alcohol took hold and their dancing became more provocative and interspersed with raunchy make-out sessions. They were seventeen. They were hormonal teenagers living without a care about tomorrow. They lived in the moment, believing they could never die.

 

It seemed like only minutes passed, when in reality they spent hours in that underground tunnel, getting as close as physically possible while still keeping their clothes on.

 

“I need to get back to the base before my mom realizes I’m gone,” Clarke sighed in to Lexa’s lips as the crowd started thinning out. It was already well past midnight and into the early hours of the morning.

 

“I’ll walk you back,” Lexa insisted, to which Clarke agreed.

 

The walk back to base quickly sobered the girls up as they walked hand in hand. The early rays of sunlight that came with sunrise were just barely visible with the looming storm clouds overhead.

 

“I hate having to leave you,” Clarke sighed, squeezing her girlfriend’s hand. “I wish I could just bring you in to the base. I just want to be able to wake to your silly face every morning, safe and mine forever.” Even when they wanted to leave the real world behind, it was always there, impacting their every interaction.

 

“I am yours forever,” Lexa insisted.

 

“I could leave. Come live with you.”

 

“We’ve been over this,” the brunette shook her head, “It’s silly for us both to have our lives at risk every day. And it’s silly for you to leave your parents.”  
“I know, I know.” she shook her head, “It’s just not fair.”

 

They reached the clearing just before the gates to the base and paused. Clarke didn’t have to worry about sneaking in. She had her ID and would be allowed through the gates. It was much easier to enter in the morning than to leave at night.

 

“I’ll try and get out tomorrow night,” Clarke spoke. She pulled Lexa in to a tight embrace and kissed her desperately. As she pulled away, she noticed the ruckus outside the base gates. Several armored cars were there and she could tell that something wasn’t right.

 

“I’m coming with you to make sure you get in okay,” Lexa spoke matter-of-factly. Clarke nodded and intertwined their hands. They’d just stepped on to the open field when they felt the rain. Within moments they realized it wasn’t ordinary rain. It was acid rain.

 

“Quick!” Clarke began to run, her hand still attached to Lexa’s. “We need to get under cover!” She could feel the acid rain scorching her skin.

 

As they ran, the soldiers turned to look at her. She saw them pounding on the hood on an armored car and pointing to her. Two figures came out of the car and as Clarke and Lexa closed the distance between them and the car, she recognized them. The first was her mom. The second, her dad.

 

“Dad!” she exclaimed, running faster.

 

After they reached the gates, protective rain coats were thrown at them and both she and Lexa through one on.

 

“What’s going on?” the blonde asked after hugging her father.

 

“There’s a shuttle launching from the NASA base,” he explained, “I managed to get you and your mom seats on the shuttle. It may be the last one we’re able to launch until the war ends or we’re totally decimated. It’s safer up on the space station. We have a window to launch, but it’s only a few hours away, we need to leave now.”

 

“Wh-what?” the blonde sputtered. “No, I can’t leave.” She turned to look at her girlfriend who grasped her hand again. “Not without Lexa.”  
Jake looked between Clarke and Lexa with sadness. “There isn’t room for her,” he sighed.

“Then I’m not going,” Clarke took a step back from her father, pressing her body against Lexa’s.

“You don’t have a choice,” Abby took a step forward. “Staying here is a death sentence. I cannot allow you to stay. You’re best chance at survival is that space station.”  “I’d rather die with Lexa than live without her.” Her grip on Lexa tightened.

“Your mom is right,” Lexa spoke softly in to her ear. “You need to survive. I need you to survive.”

“I don’t want to leave you.”

“We need to leave now,” Jake insisted.

The soldiers approached them and Abby and Jake turned back to the car. Clarke’s eyes pricked, but she refused to shed tears. She brought Lexa in to a tight hug.

“I love you more than anything.”

“I love you more than that,” Lexa responded. They slowly pulled away and Clarke walked backwards to the armored car as the rain continued to fall. As she reached the car, she saw the soldiers asking Lexa for the protective raincoat back. It wasn’t fair. None of it was fair. Why did she get to live when Lexa could be dead by morning?

They were seventeen and believed they’d live forever. They were seventeen and would sneak out their windows at night. They were seventeen and believed that nothing could ever come between them. They were seventeen and it was the end of the world.

She couldn’t do it. Clarke sprinted towards Lexa, leaving her parents behind her. She reached the girl and clutched her tightly. The tears she’d tried to contain were falling freely and one look at her girlfriend made her see the tears mirrored on her face.

“It’s not fair,” Clarke sobbed. She could feel the soldiers coming up behind her and one grabbed her shoulder lightly.

“Clarke, you need to leave, you have to survive,” Lexa sobbed in return. The soldiers were now fully on top of them, pulling them apart.  
Clarke attempted to keep a hold on the brunette, but struggled with the soldiers. “I don’t want to say goodbye to you. I can’t.”

Lexa elbowed a soldier in the face to get him off of her and pulled Clarke towards her. She kissed her with all the energy she had in her, completely ignoring the acid rain that hit her after her hood fell off. She too refused to say goodbye to the girl. “May we meet again then Clarke Griffin,” she smiled.

“May we meet again,” Clarke smiled back through her tears. She let the soldiers tear her away from her love and usher in to the armored car. She kept her eyes on Lexa until they pulled away and she was out of sight. She watched the girl wave to her and give back her protective rain coats.

Hours later, when she sat on the shuttle, buckled in and headed for space, she looked out her window and watched the world disappear beneath her. She counted the hours that had passed since she left Lexa. She counted them even after she reached the space station. She counted them when communication with the United States on Earth nearly disappeared several weeks later. She counted them until she got word that the terrorists had nuked Washington DC. Then she stopped counting.

She stopped counting. She stopped eating. She stopped loving. She stopped talking. And a week after she stopped counting, she stopped breathing.

They were seventeen and believed they’d live forever. They were seventeen and believed that nothing could ever come between them. They were seventeen and it was the end of the world. The year was 2052 and the world as they knew it came to an abrupt end.

**Author's Note:**

> if you've read any of my other works, you know I always end them by asking for friends because well - why not?  
> madgirlbackhome.tumblr.com
> 
> let me know what you thought!


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